Arresting and releasing device of machines for stamping postage on letters and the like



Jan. 21, 1930. u. KOHLER 1,744,556 ARRESTING AND RELEASING DEVICE 0FMACHINES FOR STAMPING POSTAGE ON LETTERS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 18,1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 21, 1930. u KOHLER 1,744,556

- ARRES'IING AND RELEASING DEVICE OF MACHINES FOR STAMPING POSTAGE ONLETTERS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 18, 192.9 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJan. 21, 1930 FFICE ULRICH KOI-ILER, OF BER-N, SVITZERLAND, ASSIGNGR TOHA LEB- A.-G-., VORI'IIALS TELEGRAPHENWERKSTATTE VON G. I-IASLER, OFBER-N, SWITZERLAND, A CORPORA- TION OF SWITZERLAND ARRESTING ANDRELEASING DEVICE OF MACHINES FOR STAMPING- POSTAGE ON LETTERS AND THELIKE Application filed January 18, 1829, Serial No. 333,359, and inSwitzerland January 23, 1928.

This invention relates to an arresting and releasing device of machinesfor stamping or printing postage on letters or the like, comprising arotary printing member driven by means of a detachable clutch.

According to an important feature of the invention, a lever thatcontrols the clutch is adjusted or set by the printing member, at eachrevolution of the latter, in a. position for releasing the clutch andstopping the printing member, in which position it is held by a lockingmember that can be set in its releasing position by means of an articleto be printed, and is automatically returned into its locking positionby the said lever when the clutch is being disengaged.

According to a feature of the invention, the said locking member of thelocking lever that controls the printing member is controlled orsupervised by a safety member which, when the machine is ready for working, takes up such a position that it releases the said locking memberfor releasing the printing member, but can be set in such a position byvarious parts of the machine that it prevents the locking member fromreleasing the locking lever.

According to another feature of the invention, the locking member isconstituted by a lever that can take up two positions and be heldtherein by a spring, which lever has two stops or abutments spacedapart, between which the clutch-controller lever aforesaid of theprinting member extends with play, one of which stops controls theclutchoperating lever, and the other serves for throwing over thelocking member out of its rest position into its locking position by theclutch-operating lever when the latter is moved out of its engagingposition into its disengaging position for throwing out the clutch andstopping the printing member.

According to afurther feature of the in vention when the printing memberis formed as a. horizontal hollow cylinder the locking lever is mountedto rock on the end of the cylinder in a plane lying transversely of thedirection of length of the latter, and the locking member is mounted torock in a plane extending in the direction of length of the cylinder.

According to yet another feature of the invention, in order to throwover the locking member out of its locking position into its rest ornormal position for releasing the locking lever, there is arrangedbeside the printing cylinder a longitudinally displaceable rod that isparallel with the cylinder, the releasing movement of which rod istransmitted to the locking member by means of a spring.

According to a still further feature of the invention, the safety memberaforesaid supervising the locking member is'a lever fast on a shaft thatlies transversely of the printing cylinder, which shaft carries a.second lever in the range of an arm that extends out of the periphery ofthe printing cylinder and is fast on a rod that is displaceable endwisein the cylinder, so that by shifting this rod endwise the safety membercan be set in its holding or supervisory position.

Other features of the invention relating to the inking device and to thesafety member will be described hereinafter and pointed out in theclaims.

One embodiment of the invention is diagrammatically illustrated by wayof example in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a planviewof one form of arresting and releasing device according to theinvention applied to amachine for stamping or printing post-age having ahorizontal cylinder, of which machine, however, some parts are omittedand only those requisite for understanding the invention areillustrated;

Figure 2 is a. side sectional elevation taken on the line IIII in Figure1 showing part of the arresting and releasing device.

Figures 3 and 4c are like views of the same parts but in otherpositions.

Figures 5 and 6 are end sectional elevations taken on the line VV inFigure 1 showing parlts of the device in two different positions, anc

Figure 7 is an end sectional elevation taken on the line VIIVII inFigure 1.

Referring to the drawing, a horizontal hollow printing cylinder 1,closed at its ends by end covers 2 and 3, rests near the middle in aring 4 of the machine frame and has an end pivot 5 journaled in abearing 6. A worm wheel 7 to be driven by a motor, and a clutch element8 in the form of a wheel rigidly connected therewith are free to rotateon the pivot 5. A locking disc 9 is mounted on the pivot 5 beside theclutch wheel 8, and between this disc 9 and the end cover 2 is situateda safety disc 13 which is connected by an arm 10 to a pivot 11 on abracket 12 and is thus held stationary.

A coupling member 15 in the form of a curved pawl is pivoted at It tothe locking disc 9, and is pressed by spring 16 into the clutch wheel 8.In its engaged position the free end of the pawl 15 extends in thecircumferential direction of the wheel 8 somewhat beyond a locking tooth9 (Fig. 6) on the locking disc 9. a locking lever 18 pivoted at 17 has abroad teeth 18 which controls the pawl 15 and disc 9. This lever 18 isnormally held by a spring 19 out of the range of the pawl 15 and disc 9.

An arm 20 of the lever 18 spaced away from the cylinder 1 extends intothe range of a lug or projection 21 of a cam 22 on the cylinder 1. Ateach revolution of the printing cylinder in the direction of the arrowshown in Figure 5, the locking lever 18 is moved inwards by means ofthis cam 21, 22 directly in front of the coupling pawl 15 and thelocking tooth 9 against the action of the spring 19, whereby the pawl 15first coacts with the lever 18 and is disengaged from the wheel 8, sothat the drive of the printing cylinder is disconnected. Shortlyafterwards the tooth 9 coacts with the lever 18, 18, whereby thecylinder 1 is stopped 5).

The locking lever 18 is provided on the free end of its arm extendingbelow the disc 9 with a downwardly directed extension piece 18" thatlies in the range of a locking member 2a in the form of a bell-cranklever fulcrumed at .13 to rock in a plane parallel the lever 24: has alug 29 which in the locking" position shown in Figures 2 and a engagesthe lever 18 and holds it in i s locking position in which the cylinder1 is held against rotation.

In order to throw over the locking member 24 out of its locking positioninto its releasing or disengaged position shown in Figure 3, forinstance by means of letter or the lil'e to be stamped or printed, adisengaging rod 31 movable endwise in the frame of the countingmechanism is arranged lying against a leaf-spring 30 mounted on thelooking member 2a, which rod 31 has a d scshaped head 32 constituting astop for the letter or the ike to be p *inted.

The horizontal arm of the lever 24 has within reach of the extensionpiece 18 of the lever 18 a pin 33, against which the bevelled part 18strikes when the lever 18 is thrown over from its releasing position(Figure 6) into its locking position (Figure 5) whereby the lever 24 isalso thrown over from its relea ing position into its locking position.

Provision is made to prevent rotation of the printing cylinder and theconsequent production of an uncounted, unrecorded or unauthorizedimpression when the machine is not ready for operation for any reason,for e ample when the maximum amount has been reached by the countingmechanism, i. e., the counter must be reset, or when the inkingmechanism is inoperative, or when the printing types in the printingcylinder are not correctly set. For this last purpose, a safety orsupervisory lever 36 is arranged beside the lever 24 on a shaft 35 thatis journalcd in two bra ings 34 and lies transversely of the cylir. 1,which supervisory lever 36 in its normal position shown in Figures 2 and3 has its lower end lying behind a lateral lug 2 1 of the horizontal armof the lever 24 and therefore permit-s this lug to move up and down. Ifthe machine is out of order or is not ready for working then the lever36 is in its locking or supervisory position shown in Figure 4 in whichits lower end lies over the lug 24.

The safety lever 36 can be set in this operative locking position bymeans of any one of several endwise movable rods. Within the cylinder 1is situated a rod 37 which has one end guided to move longitudinal y inthe end cover 2, and has its other end forced by a spring 38 into arecess 39 in the end cover 3 and is consequently held therein. The frontend of the rod 37 is rigidly connected by an arm 40 with a knob or apresser ll that extends through a handle 42 movable in the cover plate3. This handle 12 is pivotally connected with bars 43 extending endwisein the cylinder 1, and types, not shown, arranged in rows are movablealong and transversely of these bars 4E3. The said types can be movedand be adjusted relatively to a printing aperture 14 in the periphery ofthe cylinder only when the rod 37 has been moved out of the recess 39and has been shifted transversely relatively thereto. To do this the red37 must be moved by the pressbutton 4L1 against the action of the spring38. The least movement of the rod 3'? towards the rear, however, sendsits rear end into a hole in the safety disc 13 and thus locks theprinting cylinder against rotation.

F or doubly securing the printing cylinder against unauthorized rotationthereof, the endwise movement of the rod 37 is transmitted to the shaft35 and to the safety lever 36 by an arm 46 that extends from the rod 37laterally out of the cylinder and coacts with an arm l? fast on theshaft 35, whereby the safety lever 36 is moved from its normalinoperative or rest position shown in Figures 2 and 3 into its operativelocking position shown in Figure l.

The upper end of the safety lever 36 lies against a rod 49 which ismovable endwise in the frame 4.8 of the counting mechanism and normallyextends into a hole 52 in a disc 53 (Figs. 1 and 7) under the action ofa forked spring 51 engaging an annular groove in the rod 49; this disc5.3 is fast on a rotatable hinge pin 54: of a hinged ink-mechanism cover55 which normally closes part of the upper half of the printingcylinder. lVhen it is desired to open the cover 55 the rod 49 must bepushed out of the disc 53 by pressing on a knob 56 on the spring 51. Therod 49 then moves out of the disc 53, releases the pin of the cover 55and strikes against the safety lever 36 which secures the lock ingmember 24 in its locking position. V v hen the cover 55 is opened thedisc 53 rotates and, when the spring 51 is released, prevents the red asand the safety lever 36 from returning into their normal position shownin Figures 2 and 3. hen the cover 55 is closed the disc 53 returns intoits original position and permitsthe rod 49 to enter into the hole 52,which rod then at once releases the safety lever 36 which returnsautomatically into its normal position.

The machine is also locked by the counting mechanism 5'? indicated onlydiagrammatically in Figure 1 when the maximum amount paid in advance tothe post office is used up, to which amount the counting mechanism isset in the usual manner. Normally, a lever 63% that is pressed by aspring 62 against the safety lever 36 and is rotatable about a verticalpivot 63 is prevented from rocking the lever 36 out of its normalposition into its locking position, shown in Figure 4, by means of alever 59 fast on a shaft 58, and a rod that has one end pivoted to thelever 59 and its other end passed through a guide 61. As soon as theshaft 58 is so rotated by the count ing mechanism that the rod 60releases the lever 6%, the latter strikes against the safety lever 36and moves it out of its normal position into its locking position. It isthen neccssary, by paying the maximum sum set on the counting mechanismto the post office, to unlock the machine, for example by inserting anew control strip, not shown, issued by the post oiiice into thecounting mechanism and thereby returning the lever 6 into the positionin which it is arrested by the rod 60 and does not influence the safetylever .36.

It will be appreciated from the above that it is not possible to imprinta stamp or mark in an unauthorized manner when the machine is not readyfor operation or is otherwise out of order.

I claim 1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of arotary printing member, and a detachable clutch for driving the same,with a'lever that controls the clutch and is placed by the printingmember, at each revolution of the latter, in a disengaging positionwherein it disengages the clutch and thereby stops the printing member,a locking member. arranged to hold said lever in said disengagingposition, means controlled by an article to be printed for setting thelocking member in its releasing position and thereby releasing saidlever, and means actuated by said lever for automatically returning thelocking member into its locking position when the clutch is beingdisengaged.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryprinting member, and a detachable clutch for driving the same, with alever that controls the clutch and is so controlled by the printingmember, at each revolution of the latter, that it is placed in adisengaging position wherein it disengages the clutch and thereby stopsthe printing member, a locking member arranged to hold said lever insaid disengaging position, means controlled by an article to be printedfor releasing said locking member from said lever, means actuated bysaid lever for automatically returning the locking member into lockingengagement with said lever when the clutch is being disengaged, a safetymember for controlling said locking member, and means for controllingsaid safety member and there by holding the same in locking engagementwith, and releasing it from the locking member.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryprinting member, and a detachable clutch for driving the same, with aclutch lever that controls the clutch and is so controlled by theprinting member, at each revolution of the latter,that itis placed in adisengaging posit-ion wherein it disengages the clutch and thereby stopsthe printing member, a locking member in the form of a lever movableinto two end positions, a spring for holding the locking member ineither of said end posit-ions, which locking member has two stops spacedapart, between which stops said clutch lever extends with play and iscontrolled by one of them, and the other serves for throwing over thelook ing member out of one end position into its locking position whenthe clutch lever moves from its engaging into its disengaging positionand means controlled by an article to be printed for releasing thelocking member from the clutch lever.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of ahorizontal rotary printing cylinder, a detachable clutch for driving thesame, a clutch lever that is mounted to rock on the end of the cylinderin a plane lying transversely of the direction of length of the latter,which lever controls said clutch, means on said cylinder arranged tocoact with said clutch lever and so control it, at each revolution ofthe cylinder, that the lever is placed in a disengaging position whereinit disengages the clutch and thereby stops the cylinder, a lockingmember that is arranged to rock in a plane extending transversely of theformer plane and is arranged to hold said clutch lever in saiddisengaging position, means controlled by an article to be printed forsetting the locking member in its releasing position and therebyreleasing said lever, and means actuated by said clutch lever forautomatically returning the locking member into its locking positionwhen the clutch is being disengaged.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of ahorizontal rotary printing cylinder, a detachable clutch for driving thesame, a clutch lever that controls the clutch, means on said cylinderarranged to coact with said clutch lever and so control it, at eachrevolution of the cylinder, that the lever is placed in a disengagingposition wherein it disengages the clutch and thereby stops thecylinder, a locking member arranged to hold the clutch lever in saiddisengaging position, a spring coacting with said locking member, anendwise movable bar mounted parallel with said cylinder and arranged tobe shifted endwise by an article to be printed and transmit its movementthrough said spring to the locking member for releasing the clutchlever, and means actuated by said lever for automatically returning thelocking member into its locking position when the clutch is beingdisengaged.

6. In a machine of the character described, the combination of ahorizontal rotary printing cylinder, a detachable clutch for driving thesame, a clutch lever that controls the clutch, means on said cylinder aranged to coact with said clutch lever and so control it, at eachrevolution of the cylinder, that the lever is placed in a disengagingposition wherein it disengages the clutch and thereby stops thecylinder, means controlled by an article to be printed for releasingsaid looking member from said clutch lever, means actuated by said leverfor automatically returning the locking member into locking engagementwith the clutch lever when the clutch is being disengaged, a shaft thatlies transversely of the length of the cylinder, a safety member that isfast on said shaft and controls the locking member, an endwise movablerod in the cylinder, an arm that is fast on said rod and extends out ofthe cylinder, and a lever that is fast on said shaft and is arranged tobe rocked by said arm, when said rod is moved endwise, and thereby setthe safety member in looking engagement with the locking member.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryhollow printing cylinder, a cover portion for a part thereof, adetachable clutch .for driving the cylinder, a clutch lever thatcontrols the clutch, means on said cylinder arranged to coact with saidclutch lever and so control it, at each revolution of the cylinder, thatthe lever is placed in a disengaging position wherein it disengages theclutch and thereby stops the cylinder, a locking member arranged to holdthe clutch lever in said disengaging position, means controlled by anarticle to be printed for releasing said locking member from the clutchlever, means actuated by said clutch lever for automatically returningthe locking member into locking engagement With the clutch lever whenthe clutch is being disengaged, a safety member for controlling saidlocking member, and means controlled by the opening and closing of saidcover portion and arranged respectively to hold the safety member in itslocking position in relation to the locking member and release ittherefrom.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryhollow printing cylinder, a hinged cover portion for a part thereof,detachable clutch for driving the cylinder, a clutch lever that controlsthe clutch, means on said cylinder arranged to coact with said clutchlever and so control it, at each revolution of the cylinder, that thelever is placed in a disengaging position wherein it disengages theclutch and thereby stops the cylinder, a locking member arranged to holdthe clutch lever in said disengaging position, means controlled by anarticle to be printed for releasing said locking member from the clutchlever, means actuated by said clutch lever for automatically returningthe locking member into locking engagement with the clutch lever whenthe clutch is being disengaged, a safety member for controlling saidlocking member, and an endwise movable rod arranged in one end positionto lock said cover portion and release the safety member, and in itsother end position to unlock the cover portion and hold the safetymember in locking engagement with the locking member.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryprinting cylinder, a counting mechanism associated therewith, adetachable clutch for driving the cylinder, a clutch lever that controlsthe clutch, means on said cylinder arranged to coact with said clutchlever and so control it, at each revolution of the cylinder, that thelever is placed in a disengaging position wherein it disengages theclutch and thereby stops the cylinder, a locking member arranged to holdthe clutch lever in said disengaging position, means controlled by anarticle to be printed for releasing said locking member from the clutch,means actuated by said clutch lever for automatically returning thelocking memher into locking engagement with the clutch lever when theclutch is being disengaged, a safety member for controlling said lockingmember, and a spring-controlled lever that tends to place the safetymember in locking engagement With the locking member and is normallyheld in an inoperative position by the counting mechanism.

ULRICH KOHLER.

